Virtual Assistant Forums | Work from Home

Jill T · #1 (**permalink**) 09-29-2010

Recently, I've been working with The Pomodoro Technique and am having success with it.

The method uses a timer. In addition to a regular desktop timer, I'm looking for a software timer. Can anyone recommend a good one? I'm leery of some of the online downloads.

Thanks!

Clerical Advantage · #2 (**permalink**) 09-29-2010

Jill,
I use FocusBooster which was made with the Pomodoro technique in mind.

Jill T · #3 (**permalink**) 09-29-2010

Hi Tina,

Thanks for the reply. That is one of the timers I've been looking at, in fact, I've been using the online version for a bit now. I wanted to download the software to my pc, but I'm not a huge fan of downloading unknown software. Do you use the online timer or the download?

Thank you!

Clerical Advantage · #4 (**permalink**) 09-29-2010

I use the download and haven't had any problems with it. It's been highly recommended in Pomodoro circles.

JennK · #5 (**permalink**) 09-29-2010

This is really interesting. I've never heard of the Pomodoro Technique before. Does it have to be 25 minutes? If I'm focused on a task that takes 60 minutes I hate to be interrupted just because the technique says I have to.

But other than that the concept is really good.

ProAdmin Solutions · #6 (**permalink**) 10-02-2010

Hmmmm... very interesting. I have never heard of this technique before, but I agree that it sounds interesting. I don't think I could do this in business because I can get totally zoned in on a task and look up and wonder how two hours went by without my noticing. But I KNOW I can use this technique for studying and for personal tasks. Good to know!

Excellence · #7 (**permalink**) 05-23-2011

Thank you, the Pomodoro idea sounds great.
Currently I'm using TimeStamp and I send out an invoice with an Excel sheet detailing hours and tasks for my clients.
I think the Pomodoro idea would be great to incorporate for my personal business hours.

OTBAS · #8 (**permalink**) 12-31-2011

We use the time-tracker in our collaboration online software "ClientSpot" (myclientspot.com), which keeps track of time against a client's contract, retainer, etc. You don't have to remember to go to a separate timer each time you begin a project/task, because you start the task/project from within ClientSpot, and the timer is right there for you to click on, select the task, or change between clients for different tasks, and it keeps track of time spent on each task and client. You can then input the time log data into your accounting software for invoicing purposes. It's not free, but it does the trick for us.